Greetings people,

I just want to know if UTX v2 is worth the 30 bucks?

to add more to this topic, I haven't tried UTX before.

If you predominantly fly in the USA it's the most accurate vector data available... So yes it is for me!

 

Since it's a F1 wrapper they have a 30 day return policy too.

Thanks, Then I would give it a shot

Yes. I really like it. As above, particularly good for US flying.

Just bought it an hour ago and it's amazing. No more FTX Orbx for me, got bored of the repeated textures.

If you already have Orbx Vector 1.20 loaded is UTX 2.0 compatible with Vector or would you have to delete it? Also is it compatible with other Orbx scenery?

If you predominantly fly in the USA it's the most accurate vector data available... So yes it is for me!

 

Since it's a F1 wrapper they have a 30 day return policy too.

And you know this, how?

 

 

No more FTX Orbx for me, got bored of the repeated textures.

 

UTX 1 or 2 doesn't have ground textures so you are moving backwards not forwards.

And you know this, how?

This is from the Flight1 website forum post about UTX2:

 

"Among other updates, Ultimate Terrain USA 2.0 provides completely replaced road data for the entire USA, based on TomTom’s commercial data, which is normally found in today’s GPS units. "

 

I think that statement is a convincing argument and I personally don't know of any product that can claim better accuracy for the US right now.

If you already have Orbx Vector 1.20 loaded is UTX 2.0 compatible with Vector or would you have to delete it? Also is it compatible with other Orbx scenery?

You don't need to delete Vector 1.20...and it will come aboard for areas not specifically covered by UTX.  Or, you can just un-check it in your Scenery Lib as I did.  I find UTX superior for data and scenery generation at this time.  For myself, I have reloaded all my UTX products, updated them..and am most happy with the visual result. With the UTX-AUTOGEN (new) lighting system you get with purchasing UTX USA v2.0...the solution is a real 'keeper'!  You will get this new lighting system across all your (less than v2.0) UTX titles...and it looks fabulous!

There seems to be some confusion as to what UTX 2.0 provides. Jim covered one point already about ground textures, but I think that it's worth it to go over some of the basics about FSX/P3d scenery components. Here is a nice summary from the ORBX official forums that explain the purposes of the 4 main layers of FSX/P3D scenery:

 

 

MESH - Simply put, quite literally a 3D grid (or mesh) that defines the shape of the terrain

LANDCLASS - Basic shapes draped over the mesh which tell FSX/P3D what type of terrain is in an area. No actual textures or imagery, simply a definition of what is supposed to be there.

TEXTURE (& Autogen) - What you see on the ground. A collection of textures which are stored almost like a library and applied to the landclass definitions. Autogen buildings and vegetation are assigned positions within the textures and show up when the textures do. The texture tiles are designed to be tiled together to cover large areas if needed.

VECTOR - All the "line" data in the sim... roads, railways, rivers, power lines etc.

 

UTX 2.0 USA is primarily a vector product and replaces the default "roads, railways, rivers, power lines etc.". In addition (according to their website) it does:

 

 

1. Improved Urban Landclass

 

Ultimate Terrain X dramatically improves the accuracy of cities in using our proprietary "Synthetic Landclass" generation system, which generates urban landclass based on recent commercial data sources. 

 

In the USA, there are basically 6 different sets of landclass textures available to represent the different levels of urban sprawl. These textures are used in the wetter, more seasonal areas. There are also 5 urban texture sets available for dry regions. 

 

2. Improved Waterclass

 

Waterclass options are a unique feature of Ultimate Terrain X that controls the coloring and style of the water features for various locations around the world. Ultimate Terrain enhances the default water by providing 4 different waterclass choices: 

 

Blue water tint

Plankton/Algae bloom tint

Muddy water tint

Muddy water with Plankton bloom tint.

 

Water colors can vary dramatically between seasons. And, many users have different opinions on how their water environment should look. So, Ultimate Terrain X gives you the multiple options. 

 

3. Improved Night Lighting

 

UTX V2.0 includes new autogen lighting that is both beautiful and highly configurable, giving you the flexibility to tune your environment to your liking. Using the supplied interface, users can assign any type of supplied light color to any type of road in UTX. You can also specify the spacing between lights, densities and sizes. UTX Autogen Lights illuminate the ground below the lamp. If you don't like the ground lighting, simply select a different object library. If you want to change the light spot brightness, just select one of the different textures. It's your choice. 

 

4. Limited Improved Ground Textures

 

Ultimate Terrain X includes custom ground textures for specialized areas (note that these are specialized textures and not general texture replacements like our Ground Environment product). These ground textures differ from landclass, because they take on the exact size and shape of the terrain feature in the real world. 

 

Beaches

Glaciers

Cemeteries

Highway Interchanges

Tunnel Entrances

Railroad Yards

Small Islands

Parking Lots

Grassy, Forest, or Concrete areas for landmark features.

 

So UTX 2.0 USA is not going to substantially change either landclass or ground textures except in urban areas. Don't get me wrong. I think that their companion product XtremeCities is a great improvement in urban areas. But let's not come up with supposed improvements that are not included in the UTX product itself.

This is from the Flight1 website forum post about UTX2:

 

"Among other updates, Ultimate Terrain USA 2.0 provides completely replaced road data for the entire USA, based on TomTom’s commercial data, which is normally found in today’s GPS units. "

 

I think that statement is a convincing argument and I personally don't know of any product that can claim better accuracy for the US right now.

 

I doubt seriously that TomTom went around the entire US and created new vector coverages from scratch with their own orthoimagery. Just like everyone else, they started with the incredibly accurate (and freely available) GIS datasets that have been developed by the US federal government and various state governments. There are similar datasets available for Canada. I should add here that supposedly FTX Global Vector 1.20 uses the exact same source data for its US and Canada vector coverages. If there are discrepancies between UTX 2.0 USA and FTX Global Vector, they are from transcription, which is always a factor when dealing with "big data". Thus your revised statement is correct.

Just bought it an hour ago and it's amazing. No more FTX Orbx for me, got bored of the repeated textures.

SpeedBird, this is not replacing general terrain graphics, like FTX Global.  That is a fabulous product that brings FSX/P3D alive.  We are talking about data that generates roadways, lakes, rivers, streams, etc.  This is what either UTX or FTX Vector injects. It places these graphics (like roadways) over the Global's graphics, or it depicts the shape of a lake or, the course of a river or stream through those Global graphics.  Both programs have graphics to generate those river, streams, lakes, etc. The UTX graphics sets for rivers and streams with their embankments, gives a depth to the river or lake bed, and is very visually appealing. As you fly over that river or stream, it looks 3D of sorts... which is a personal preference.

I doubt seriously that TomTom went around the entire US and created new vector coverages from scratch with their own orthoimagery. Just like everyone else, they started with the incredibly accurate (and freely available) GIS datasets that have been developed by the US federal government and various state governments. There are similar datasets available for Canada. I should add here that supposedly FTX Global Vector 1.20 uses the exact same source data for its US and Canada vector coverages. If there are discrepancies between UTX 2.0 USA and FTX Global Vector, they are from transcription, which is always a factor when dealing with "big data". Thus your revised statement is correct.

 

I think you've misunderstood FSDanL's/Flight 1's quote - when they say "Ultimate Terrain USA 2.0 provides completely replaced road data for the entire USA, based on TomTom's commercial data", they mean that they (Flight 1) have replaced the entire road data in Version 2.0 of Ult Terrain USA using TomTom's commercial data over whatever road data  Version 1 of Ult Terrain USA used. They're not claiming that TomTom have replaced all their data.

 

Also, isn't FTX Vector derived from OSM data (OpenStreetMap) which IS much more accurate/up to date in Europe....but not so in the US??

 

Regards

 

Steve

 

 

Also, isn't FTX Vector derived from OSM data (OpenStreetMap) which IS much more accurate/up to date in Europe....but not so in the US??

 

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That is the problem...for North American views below the wings.....   That is not an issue with Tom-Tom data.

And you know this, how?

 

The 30 day policy?  That's been in place for years.  The most accurate vector data...  that's because of the data sources they used, vs Orbx's data...

 

Also, there is a nice little compatibly patch for Global users... nice of the UTX guys:

http://www.simforums.com/forums/released-enhancement-patch-for-orbx-ftx-global_topic50850.html